The invention refers to handling and exchange apparatus for probe tubes to be attached to a temperature gage and/or sampling lances in the metallurgical field. The arrangement allows for pivoting of the tubes drawn from a storage tank by means of a feed mechanism, and by means of a rotatable transfer mechanism movable into a vertical transfer position, so that the support lance, with the attached probe, may be inserted into and retracted from the furnace chamber of metallurgical vessels.
Such devices serve to automate measuring and testing processes of the most diverse kinds in the manufacture of steel in metallurgical furnaces, such as in steel mill converters. The probe tubes are equipped, according to the high temperature in the metallurgical area, with test heads or sampling tools to be used only once. Probe tubes of this type are provided at one end with connecting elements which, together with corresponding connecting elements on the support lance to be raised and lowered into the furnace, facilitate a connection which can be established or released quickly. The end of the connecting element being in front, the probe tube is transported by control impulses operating the transfer apparatus remotely from the control stand of a metallurgical smelting plant.
It has been disclosed in German DE-OS No. 26 31 060 to arrange vertical rows of probe tubes of uniform diameter in a storage tank for such a supply and transfer apparatus. The apparatus is equipped with a special sampling body isolation mechanism. It consists of one support arm unit each for each vertical row of tubes, having four sections of upper and lower arms, which are arranged in pairs of two. Despite the gripping mechanism consisting of the arms, the probe tubes must be dropped via inclined sliding surfaces to the level of the feed mechanism, which is disadvantageous. Further, the disclosed supply and transfer apparatus provides a lateral arrangement of the feed device next to the storage tank which makes for a greater requirement of space. This is another disadvantage in view of the crowded conditions in a metallurgical plant. Besides the rotatable transfer device, the disclosed apparatus furthermore necessitates a special support mechanism to transfer the tubes from the feed mechanism to the support lance. This type of transport apparatus is, in its entirety, very involved and complicated.
The invention aims to simplify the known supply and transfer apparatus. Furthermore, the invention provides an apparatus for probe tubes with different cross sections, shapes and sizes. The invention provides for arranging the feed mechanism under the floor of the storage tank wherein the tubes rest on each other, forming several independent vertical rows. The invention coordinates each vertical row at the end walls of the storage tank, with a front opening matching the greatest diameter of the respective tubes, and with a rear opening for a slide; and by attaching the slide to the feed mechanism so that it aligns with the probe tube axis. Such a transport apparatus has the advantages of a simplified tube sampling mechanism, which practically consists of the feed mechanism itself, so that the feed mechanism is also arranged in a space-saving manner. Another simplification of the transfer apparatus, according to the invention, results from the omission of a special support mechanism to transfer the tubes from the feed mechanism to the support lance. A special advantage of the invention is that the storage tank may contain probe tubes of different cross sectional sizes and/or shapes.
Further, the invention is based on the concept of selecting one tube from one selected vertical row of a multitude of adjacent vertical rows. Accordingly, the invention is designed to permit horizontal movement of the storage tank or feed mechanism perpendicular to the feed direction of the feed mechanism. Also, any desired selection of tubes from the vertical rows is further facilitated by permitting movement of the storage tank or the feed mechanism.
It is also advantageous that a distribution opening is coordinated with the lowest probe tube of a vertical row. The lowest tube in the vertical row is selected and withdrawn from under the weight of the tubes being supported by each other in the vertical row. It is furthermore provided that the horizontally movable storage tank may be locked in position for withdrawing a tube.
Locating the selected vertical row of tubes is accomplished in such a manner that the locking element may be shifted back and forth by means of a drive by the distance between two vertical rows of tubes, while gripping the storage tank. The lock is cancelled by means of an additional drive. This drive may either be arranged at the front of the storage tank or beneath it, in a protected fashion.
A further improvement of the invention is the feed mechanism comprising a cable which may be moved back and forth by means of a reversible piston-cylinder drive. The rope or cable comes attached with a carrier for a dog which is mounted to project into the tubes. The carrier moves in a longitudinal direction in a guide extending along the floor of the storage tank. In the feed direction, in the starting position of the feeding movement, the carrier projects into a groove for engaging the tubes, and it is withdrawn from the groove at the starting position of the return direction of movement.
During transfer, the probe tubes are exposed to environmental conditions of the metallurgical operation. Damages to the probe tubes during transfer are avoided in accordance with further measures in that the transfer device opposite the storage tank consists of a receiver provided with a protective covering, and provided with passageways for the tubes at the end walls, such receiver being pivotal around a horizontal axis running at right angles to the tube axis, while remaining covered.
The receiver for the transfer of the tubes is, according to the invention, formed by providing under the covering at least one clamping jaw pair each for each tube. The invention further provides for a feeding movement to transfer the tube held in the receiver that the clamping jaw pairs are arranged on one common beam which is supported under the covering so as to be movable in the direction of the supported tube axis.
Provision to protect the tubes is furthermore made in that the covering surrounding the supported tube extends at least on three sides in the horizontal position, and in its vertical pivoted position affords protection from a rising exhaust gas flow, its radiation, etc. According to the present invention, the transfer device takes on the functions of clamping the tubes, swiveling and transferring them. For the transfer, it is provided that the receiver is equipped with a guide which, in vertical position of the receiver, provides a means of centering the respective probe tube in the receiver versus the opposite support lance tip.
The means for the removal of spent tubes, according to further developement of the invention, that below the receiver is a pipe switch. In the vertical normal position of the pipe switch, the spent tube, after releasing the tube clamp, drops through the pipe switch into a collecting tank placed underneath, or into the metallurgical vessel itself. In a second position of the pipe switch, a previously severed sample, as the case may be, can be dispatched to a test station for examination. For the purpose of severing the spent tube parts which are to be subjected to testing, a conventional cutting mechanism is positioned above the pipe switch to take a sample for analysis.